1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of, for example, semiconductor device fabrication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a photoresist step in a process of semiconductor device fabrication, for example, a resist solution is applied to a front face of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d) or the like to form a resist film, and a developing solution is supplied to the wafer which has been exposed in a pattern to thereby perform developing processing. In order to perform the above-described series of processing, a coating and developing processing apparatus has been conventionally used.
The coating and developing apparatus comprises various kinds of processing units such as a cooling processing unit for cooling a wafer, a heat processing unit for heating the wafer, a resist coating unit for coating the wafer with a resist solution, a developing processing unit for performing developing processing for the wafer, and the like. In order to make the whole coating and developing processing apparatus compact, a thermal processing unit group is formed in which a plurality of heat processing units and cooling processing units are multi-tiered in a mixed manner. In this case, the heat processing units are disposed at the upper tier and the cooling processing units are disposed at the lower tier in the thermal processing unit group respectively, thereby preventing thermal interference in the thermal processing unit group. Further, in the coating and developing processing apparatus, the thermal processing unit group is disposed near the resist coating unit and the developing processing unit to be compactly arranged with a transport apparatus, thereby attaining further space saving of the coating and developing processing apparatus.
However, as the wafer increases in diameter, all the processing units increase in size. Thus, it is necessary to arrange the processing units more compactly in order to save space.
However, when the heat processing unit increases in size, an amount of heat of the heat processing unit also increases. Accordingly, in the case where the heat processing unit is disposed near other processing units as one processing unit in the thermal processing unit group as before, there is a danger that temperature control can not be precisely performed in the other units for performing processing for the wafer at a temperature close to room temperature, for example, the resist coating unit, the cooling processing unit, and the like. The instabilities in temperature control in these processing units result in a problem of a resist film varying in film thickness.
The present invention is made under the circumstances and its object is to provide a substrate processing apparatus capable of precisely performing temperature control in a processing unit for performing processing for a substrate at a temperature close to room temperature.
To solve the above problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a first processing unit group including a plurality of first processing units for performing processing for a substrate at a temperature close to room temperature; a second processing unit group including a plurality of second processing units for performing heat processing for the substrate; and a main transport apparatus for transporting the substrate between the units, wherein the first processing unit group and the second processing unit group are disposed in divided different areas, and the substrate is transferred between the first processing unit group and the second processing unit group only by means of the main transport apparatus, is provided.
According to the above configuration, the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at a temperature close to room temperature and the second processing unit group for performing heat processing for the substrate are disposed in divided different areas, thereby minimizing thermal interference which the first processing unit group receives from the second processing unit group. In addition, in the present invention, the substrate is not directly transferred between the first processing unit group and the second processing unit group but transferred only by means of the main transport apparatus, thereby reducing the flow of a temperature atmosphere in the second processing unit group into the first processing unit group to a minimum. Consequently, according to the present invention, temperature control in the first processing unit group for performing processing for the substrate at a temperature close to room temperature can be precisely performed.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a transfer table for transferring a substrate; a first transport apparatus and a second transport apparatus, disposed in front and behind the transfer table to hold it therebetween, for transporting the substrate; a cooling processing unit, disposed to hold the fist transport apparatus between the cooling processing unit and the transfer table, for performing cooling processing for the substrate; a processing solution supply unit, disposed on a side of the first transport apparatus, for supplying a processing solution to the substrate; and heat processing unit, disposed on a side of the second transport apparatus, for performing heat processing for the substrate, is provided.
According to the above configuration, the apparatus is divided into the first area, including the cooling processing unit and the processing solution supply unit, for performing processing for the substrate at a temperature close to room temperature and the second area, including the heat processing unit, for performing heat processing for the substrate with the transfer table therebetween, and the first area and the second area can be separated by at least a width of the transfer table, thereby minimizing thermal interference which the processing solution supply unit and the cooling processing unit for performing processing for the substrate at a temperature close to room temperature in the first area receive from the second area including the heat processing unit. Consequently, temperature control in the processing solution supply unit and the cooling processing unit for performing processing for the substrate at a temperature close to room temperature can be precisely performed. Further, the processing units and the like can be arranged on all four sides around the first transport apparatus, and the processing units and the like can be arranged on three sides around the second transport apparatus and the remaining one side can be used for transfer of the substrate to/from the outside, so that the processing units and the like can be densely arranged. Consequently, space savings can be realized.
These objects and still other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.